Shaastra Circuit Design Challenge

The purpose of this event is to test your enthusiasm and skills in building analog and digital circuits.

SCDC Prelims

A problem statement shall be put up and you'll be required to submit a report before a deadline detailing how you plan to design, build and demonstrate the circuit. Eight best designs, evaluated on the basis of the reports, shall be invited to demonstrate their designs at Shaastra.

The problem statement for SCDC (Green Circuit) has been uploaded. Please check out the 'Problem Statement' tab  on this page for details. Kindly note that the deadline for submission of report is September 6, 2009 23:59 hours.

SCDC: Final round

Once your report is shortlisted and you receive a call from us, you can begin building your circuit. The final round will involve a presentation-cum-demonstration during Shaastra by each of the finalists. The exact details of the final round will be explained in due time.

Before downloading and reading the detailed problem statement pdf, here's a brief abstract to help you get an overview of what the problem statement is about.

Please check this page and the version number of the problem statement regularly for updates. In the case of any inconsistency or ambiguity being discovered in the problem statement document at a later stage, minor changes shall be made and an updated version of the problem statement shall be uploaded here.

The current version of the problem statement is 1.0.

Brief Abstract

The aim is to build a Green Circuit that can optimize the energy utilization in a room by avoiding unnecessary energy usage. For the purposes of this contest, you're expected to build a small-scale version of the Green Circuit that can be suitably scaled up during actual implementation.

You've to mail a report by September 6, 23:59 hours to scdc@shaastra.org, with “SCDC Report” as the subject-line, clearly describing how you plan to design, build and demonstrate the Green circuit. Reports should be in .pdf or .doc/docx or .odt format. The details that must be included in the report are described in the problem statement pdf. Teams sending the eight best designs, evaluated on the basis of the reports, shall be shortlisted for the final round of SCDC and invited to demonstrate their designs at Shaastra 2009.

As a compulsory module, you need to build a robust real-time counter that can maintain and display a count of the number of persons in the room. Based on this count or otherwise, you need to come up with innovative ideas and implementations to optimize the energy usage of various electric appliances in the room. You can choose the appliances whose operations you intend to optimize (though you are expected to do some optimization for at least the fan(s) and light(s) in the room). You are also free to decide how to implement and demonstrate your designs for the different appliances you choose (clearly explain them in the report); the closer your demonstration is to the actual implementation, the higher will be your score. You can make any reasonable assumption during your design, but clearly state and justify all of them in the report.

Please keep in mind that in the report, just ideas stated in words aren't sufficient; you need to provide circuit implementations (schematics/self-explanatory block diagrams) of all your ideas in your report. It's a circuit design challenge, after all!

All participants interested in taking part in SCDC and working on the report are requested to stay in touch with the event coordinators at scdc@shaastra.org.

Please download and read the attachment below for complete details regarding the problem statement.

1. Where can I find the problem statement?
A: Please open the 'Problem Statement' tab on this page and download the pdf attachment; you'll find all details pertaining to the problem statement in it.

2. Where can I find literature regarding the problem statement?
A: Please check out the References section of the problem statement pdf for some online sources of information and references regarding the problem.

3. Where will the SCDC prelims be held?
A: In the SCDC preliminary round, you just need to mail a report to scdc@shaastra.org. The content requirements of the report are described in detail in the problem statement pdf. On the basis of the reports that we receive from all participants, we'll shortlist the eight best designs for the final round of SCDC.

4. Where will the SCDC finals be held?
A: The SCDC finals will be held at Shaastra '09. If you're shortlisted for finals, you'll get a call from us. The format and other details of the final round will be explained in due time.

5. If we are selected for the final round, will you provide us accommodation during Shaastra?
A: We do have provisions, though very limited, to provide you accommodation on IITM campus during Shaastra on nominal charges, subject to compliance to certain terms and conditions from your side. For more details on accommodation, visit our Hospitality page or contact hospitality@shaastra.org. Even if you're not able to obtain accommodation from our Hospitality Team, there are several lodges close to the IITM campus where you can stay put.

6. The problem statement seems to be missing specifications. What should I do?
A: We believe that specifications restrict the human power of innovation and therefore, we have kept the problem very general and fairly open-ended. You're free to make any reasonable assumption(s), but you need to state and justify each of them in your report. But remember, the closer your design and demonstration is to the actual implementation, the higher will be your score!